Keefe's Whereabouts

6

I wrap myself in a towel and start to comb my hair. We came back yesterday and right now Keefe is swarmed with everyone. He's staying with us for now, but at the moment, he's at the Vacker's Residence. Which is where everyone else is as well. I decided seeing Fitz's face right now is not something I'd want to go through so I stayed home. Edaline and Grady are also there, so for now it's just Sandor and I. And of course, my other bodyguards. I walk out of the bathroom into the bedroom. While I was in the Forbidden Cities with Keefe, Edaline cleaned up my room a bit and Flori added some flowers. It feels much more homey than before. But that might also be because of the big weight lifted off my chest. Keefe is home. But I feel this other weird feeling in my heart. I can't explain it. But it's not a bad feeling, so I'll just ignore it for now. After I get dressed I walk out of my bedroom.

"Sandor?" I call out for him but he doesn't reply.

Confused, I walk down the stairs to the first floor.  My eyes go wide as I hear voices in the kitchen.

"You guys should not be bargaining into the residence without alerting Mrs Edaline, Sir Grady, or Miss Foster," I hear Sandor's voice.

"Ah leave it alone, you old grump. They know us, there's no need for formalities now," I hear a very familiar voice.

A smile comes to my face. I run into the kitchen and I feel happiness surge up.

"Ro!" I exclaim giving her a hug.

"Ah geez, you know I don't do this elfy thing you guys do," she says, but still hugs me back.

I pull away. "How are you? Where have you been? What are you doing here?"

"Good, Busy catching criminals, and I'm a bodyguard again you know? Had to tag alone with the little trouble maker over here," she says causing my attention to turn to the figure next to her.

I feel my heart rate speed up and I swallow the lump in my throat. "Keefe? Aren't you supposed to be with the Vackers?"

He opens his mouth to speak but gets cut off. "We're here too! Don't forget us," Biana says popping up from behind.

Dex, Tam, Linh, Wylie, Rayni, and... Fitz are all standing in the kitchen.

"You didn't show up, so we had to," Biana says flashing me her smile.

If only she knew it was because of her brother.

"Sophie, can we talk?" Fitz asks me.

He looks at me with pleading eyes. I can tell he's going to apologize but probably not actually apologize and make it my fault.

"No," I say.

His face goes through so many emotions at once. Surprise. Anger. Sadness. Regret. Then back to Anger. I look away from him.

"Are you guys hungry?" I ask them.

(Later that night)

"Thanks for having us," Biana gives me a hug. "Please find a way to forgive my brother, he's an idiot. But he loves you."

I don't reply. They all start to walk away and leave. I turn to look at Keefe.

"You okay?" I ask him. It must've been a lot to go through today.

"Mostly yeah," he says, scratching his neck.

Fits probably gave him a hard time. I feel anger start to bubble up. Keefe is his best friend and this is how he treats him?

"Woah, Foster, calm down it's okay," Keefe says smiling softly at me. "Nice to know you'll have my back."

"Of course I will Keefe," I say, "so you don't have to hide stuff from me or make decisions on your own anymore. Okay?"

"Okay," he says and I feel the truth from his words which sets me at ease.

We both stand there, tension building. I clear my throat.

"Do you want to see Iggy?" I ask him.

"I would love to see that stink butt," he says following me up the stairs to my room.

For some reason I feel nervous. I don't understand it. It's just Keefe. He was in my room the most out of all my other friends back then. But things are different now. He's older now. We both are. As we walk in, Keefe admires the room, walking through the familiar carpet and running his hands on top of my desk. He reaches Iggy and leans down to look at him.

"You haven't changed his color?" He asks me surprised.

Ever since Keefe changed the color before he left, I haven't had the heart to change he his color. Dec used to beg me to, but he dropped it after realizing how I couldn't handle that. Next to Iggy is his letter. His letter. Oh shit. I quickly try to grab the letter, thankfully succeeding. Keefe looks up at me, confused.

"Sorry, it's from earlier don't mind it!" I say hiding it behind me.

His eyes search mine until a slow smirk forms. He stands up. Damn he's tall. His broad shoulders remind me of how grown he is. You can tell he's older by his face too. It's much more defined. His hair, still tousled, gives him his signature boy look.

"Did you forget I'm an empath Foster?" He says getting closer to me.

Remaining eye contact with me, he reaches behind me and grabs the letter. "Do you think I could ever forget the words I wrote on this paper?"

My breath catches. He's really close. And my heart is pounding. It feels like the whole world can hear it.

"I-" I can't finish my sentences.

He smells so good. His smirk never leaves as he tucks my hair behind my ear.

"Foster," he starts.

"Hey boy! Get out here right now!" Grady's voice causes me to jump a few feet away from Keefe.

It's not like we were doing anything bad. But his close proximity. Keefe walks to the door and opens it to reveal a fuming Grady and Edaline with a goofy look on her face.

"Did you forget where you are staying?" He asks him.

"Of course! How could I forget my bunk partner?" He says with his crooked grin.

"You wish," Grady says. "Now get outside, Flori is waiting for you."

Keefe is staying in a makeshift room Flori made for him in the forest. Grady wanted to make sure that there wouldn't be any "funny business" happening, even though that would never happen. Like ever.

"Goodnight Foster," Keefe says winking at me before walking away.

Now leaving me with two things I don't want to deal with right now.

"Sophie, I understand you are getting older now. Maybe we should have a chat about-"

"Please no!" I say, knowing my face is probably as red as a beet right now. "Nothing happened! It's just Keefe."

"Sweetie, even if something happened just know we will support you!" Edaline says, covering Grady's mouth as he starts to say something probably the complete opposite as she was saying.

"If you ever need to talk you know where to find us," Edaline winks, "good night!"

They close the door behind them and I'm left by myself and a thousand thoughts and feelings I don't understand.